Food industry veteran views Internet as key ingredient

Seasoned salesman: Vincent Macciocchi is now head of U.S. sales for IngredientsNet.com, an online marketplace for the food ingredients industry.

After selling ingredients to food processors for 12 years, Vincent Macciocchi has moved on to a new product: technology.

Yet Mr. Macciocchi, 34, is calling on some of his old customers in his new job as vice-president of U.S. sales for IngredientsNet.com, a business-to-business Internet marketplace for the $105-billion food ingredients market. The Irish company opened its North American headquarters in Naperville in mid-August.

Keebler Foods Co. and H. J. Heinz Co. are among the more than 165 companies that have registered for the site, which makes money by charging a commission when users buy and sell ingredients online. Since taking the job, Mr. Macchiocchi has been spending a lot of time on the road trying to sign up more companies.

The key is generating enough trading activity to create an efficient marketplace. "Creating liquidity is our greatest challenge," he says.

Mr. Macciocchi, a Chicago native and graduate of Eastern Illinois University, knows the food business, having worked most recently as national sales manager for Roquette America Inc., which makes sorbitol and other sweeteners.

Though most food processors still buy ingredients the old-fashioned way, Mr. Macciocchi hopes that about 20% of the sales volume will move to online exchanges within the next two to three years.

IngredientsNet.com isn't the only Internet marketplace in the food industry: Several others are in the works, including Transora, a Chicago-based exchange backed by 54 of the world's largest consumer products companies. Yet instead of competing, IngredientsNet.com may be able to form alliances with Transora and other sites, Mr. Macciocchi says.

Total Foods Corp. has used IngredientsNet.com on a limited basis, mainly to learn about the technology, says Aidan Moriarty, director of industrial sales for the Michigan-based food ingredients broker.

"It's worthy of learning because I think everything is going in that direction," he says. "You're either in the game or not, and you have to be in the game to survive."